DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT CONSULTING

Like ‘social business’, digital engagement is a phrase often used quite loosely, sometimes to mean any use of social media by a corporate organisation, right through to more specific definitions around how public sector organisations promote participation in policymaking.

It certainly looks like lots of different things:

blogging

individuals using platforms like Twitter or Facebook as part of their professional work

organisations establishing social media channels on Flickr, YouTube, Twitter or many others to interact with stakeholders and customers

making contact with third parties who run forums and sites, and establishing two-way partnerships with them

It involves all of the areas below, but isn’t quite covered by any individual element. It’s definitely about customer service (answering questions, handling enquiries, providing answers) but it’s also about internal comms (helping staff adopt new tools for themselves, encouraging professionals to share knowledge with their colleagues and stakeholders). It’s not just a ‘marketing’ thing, for sure: in digital engagement, organisations often have relatively little control over the channels and messages being communicated – and done well, digital engagement isn’t just something run by a corporate Communications team.